My name is Madysen Vinson, and I am 17 years old. I like beaches over mountains and reading over movies. I am a member of the Youth Action for Health Leadership (YAHL) program, which focuses on Elevate Student Health and CounterAct Tobacco.

This campaign works to prevent tobacco use among youth and advocates for the state to require licensing to sell vape products in the first place. Comprehensive tobacco retail licensing will help hold people responsible and give due punishment whenever they blatantly ignore the law. 

I have done a CounterAct Tobacco presentation at my local middle school, and we had a lot of fun. We introduced the campaign, and we talked about all the benefits of the YAHL program and the negative effects of tobacco. We also did an interactive game where they had to compare different Big Tobacco advertisements. The first set of ads were for vapes and the second set of ads were youth ads for toys, candy, etc. The goal of the middle school youth presentation was for them to identify things the ads had in common and then discuss. They had a lot of fun and had a good discussion around the similarities between the two.

 At the end of our presentation, there were a lot of students saying that they were interested in joining the YAHL program whenever they got to high school! I feel like it was a great opportunity for them and they really took in the information we presented. I would definitely do it again! 

So, why should people support CounterAct Tobacco? Well, that is your choice, but in my opinion, it would make your community a better place for you, your family, and your friends. Thank you!

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By: Madysen Vinson, Stilwell High School